September 1, 1923: Earthquake kills over 100,000 people in Japan, leaves two million homelessSeptember 8, 1923: Seven U.S. Navy destroyers wrecked during exercisesSeptember 14, 1923: Champion Dempsey knocked out of the ring by challenger Firpo
The following events occurred in September 1923:
September 1, 1923 (Saturday)
A devastating earthquake with an approximate magnitude of 7.9 struck Japan at two minutes before noon. Over 120,000 people were killed and 2 million left homeless as half the city of Tokyo was destroyed.[1][2][3][4] Among the dead were 112 people who were killed by a mudslide that swept the train that they were on down a 150 feet (46 m) embankment and into the ocean after it had stopped at the Nebukawa Station while traveling between Atami and Odawara.[5]
The Chosen Railway was established in Korea (at the time a part of Japan under the name "Chōsen") by the merger of six separate companies, and served as the largest privately owned corporation on the Korean Peninsula.[6]
The council of the League of Nations met at the request of Greece to discuss the Corfu crisis.[7] The Italian government telegraphed the League that night saying that any decision made by the League regarding the Corfu incident would be ignored by Italy.[7]
Rocky Marciano (ring name for Rocco Marchegiano), American heavyweight boxer and world heavyweight champion 1952–1956, known for retiring undefeated; in Brockton, Massachusetts (killed in plane crash, 1969)
Karen Chandler (stage name for Eva Nadauld), American pop music singer who had hits in the 1940s as "Eve Young" and in the early 1950s as Chandler; in Rexburg, Idaho (d. 2010)
Died:
Matsuoka Yasukowa, 77, Japanese politician, former Agricultural Minister and the first president of Nippon University was killed when his house collapsed during the Kanto Earthquake.
Josephine Blatt, 60, American circus performer known for her tremendous strength, generally billed by promoters as "Minerva"
The Kantō Massacre of non-Japanese ethnic minorities began in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake the day before, starting with vigilante groups targeting Korean residents on the island of Honshu, at first with the encouragement of local police, and then with the participation of police and the Imperial Japanese Army. An estimated 6,000 people of Korean, Chinese or Ryukyuan descent were killed after rumors were spread that minorities were seeking to overthrow the Japanese government during the chaos following the earthquake.[5][9][10]
A "German Day" rally attended by over 100,000 nationalists was held in Nuremberg to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of victory over the French in the Battle of Sedan. Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff were in attendance as Nazis were among the paraders.[11][12]
German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann suggested in a speech in Stuttgart that the passive resistance campaign in the Ruhr should be ended. "Every honest person in the Ruhr district and along the Rhine is longing for the hour when he will again return to work", Stresemann said. "This hour will have to come, and through German productive work the real solution of the conflict can be found. The purpose of passive resistance was to bring about this solution. We are ready to make the greatest material sacrifices, but we are not willing to give up the liberty of German soil."[13]
Chaney as Quasimodo
Lon Chaney established his role as the "Man of 1,000 Faces" portraying Quasimodo in the debut of the popular silent film adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, released by Universal Pictures and making its debut at the Astor Theatre in New York before going into nationwide release on September 6.[14]
Died: J. Campbell Cantrill, 53, U.S. Congressman for Kentucky and Democratic nominee for Governor, died in the middle of his campaign for state office, six days after having undergone surgery for a ruptured appendix.[15]William J. Fields, another incumbent U.S. Representative, was nominated by the Democratic Party's central committee to fill the vacancy left by Cantrill's death and would win the general election in November.[16]
The musical Poppy made its debut on Broadway, premiering at the Apollo Theater for a run of 346 performances, and included in its cast comedian W. C. Fields as Professor Eustace McGargle.[20]
Alan Bristow, British entrepreneur who founded Bristow Helicopters Ltd, one of the world's largest helicopter service companies; in Balham, London (d. 2009)
Benito Mussolini threatened to have Italy withdraw from the League of Nations if it insisted on arbitrating the Corfu crisis, saying the League was "absolutely not competent" to address the issue.[21]
Howdy Wilcox (Howard Wilcox Jr.), 34, American racecar driver who won the 1919 Indianapolis 500, was killed while racing at the Altoona Speedway in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Wilcox was the first of three Indianapolis 500 winners to be killed at the Altoona Speedway. Joe Boyer died less than three months after winning the 1924 Indianapolis 500 and 1929 winner Ray Keech died two weeks after his Indy victory.
Kawai Yoshitora, 21, Japanese Communist activist, was shot and killed in prison two days after his arrest on accusations of causing anarchy in the aftermath of the September 1 earthquake.
Born: Gustavo Rojo, Uruguayan and Mexican film and television actor, was born on the German cruise ship Krefeld as it was transporting his family across the Atlantic Ocean to Montevideo. (d. 2017)[27]
Died:John "Dots" Miller, 36, American baseball player for 9 seasons between 1909 and 1921, died of tuberculosis.
Interpol was founded as the International Criminal Police Commission at a conference of police officials from 16 nations meeting in Austria at Vienna. It would adopt its present name in 1956. A century later, the Interpol network would be present in all but a few of the world's nations.[32]
Mary Katherine Campbell retained her title in the 3rd Miss America pageant.[33] She is the only Miss America to ever win twice, as previous winners were only eligible to be re-crowned during the earliest years of the pageant.
James V. Ganly, 44, U.S. Congressman representing the 24th New York district (including the Bronx, New York City), died from injuries sustained the night after he crashed his car into a tree.[34]
Seven U.S. Navy destroyers were accidentally sunk in the Honda Point Disaster off the coast of California in the largest peacetime loss of ships in U.S. history, and 23 sailors were killed after Captain Edward H. Watson ordered a squadron of 14 ships to make a fast passage to San Diego despite a heavy fog.[35] Sailing in close formation, the column of ships began piling up as one after another ran aground.[36] The ships USS Delphy, USS S. P. Lee, USS Young, USS Woodbury, USS Nicholas, USS Fuller and USS Chauncey, all sustained irreparable damage. The cost to the U.S. of losing the destroyers was estimated to be $10.5 million, equivalent to $182 million a century later.[37]
The Conference of Ambassadors announced the terms upon which the Corfu dispute between Italy and Greece would be settled. The terms were highly favorable to Italy but both sides approved the settlement.[38]
A parade of housewives marched through Berlin carrying empty baskets in protest of their inability to buy food due to hyperinflation.[39]
Born: Melitta Marxer, 91, Liechtenstein women's rights activist who lobbied for decades for women to get the right to vote in elections in the European principality of Liechtenstein before suffrage was finally extended in 1984; in Schaanwald (d. 2015)
Died: Ugo Sivocci, 38, Italian auto racer and cyclist, was killed during a test drive of the new Alfa Romeo P1 automobile.[40]
September 9, 1923 (Sunday)
Apostolos Alexandris, the Foreign Minister of Greece, informed the Council of Ambassadors that he would accept the decision of their arbitration commission to resolve the Corfu incident.[41]
A total eclipse of the Sun occurred that was visible over much of the southwestern United States and Mexico, with residents of Los Angeles, San Diego and Mexico City being in the path of the largest part of the eclipse. Unfortunately for California viewers, a thick high fog and cloud cover blocked their view of the Sun and the Moon.[44]
French physicist Louis de Broglie presented his hypothesis on subatomic particles as waves before the Paris Academy of Sciences in his paper Ondes et quanta.[45]
German military police shot six dead in a riot by unemployed people in front of Dresden City Hall.[46]
Died:
General Zhang Xun, 68, Chinese military officer and royalist who attempted in July 1917 to restore Emperor Xuantong to power with himself as Prime Minister before his coup failed after 11 days.
Finnair, the flag carrier airline of Finland, was incorporated by Bruno Lucander as "Aero O/Y" (Aero Osakeyhtiö, literally "Aero Share Company" or "Aero Corporation") and would begin flights on March 20, 1924.[48][49]
Police in Bulgaria began arrests of over 2,500 communists that the government suspected of plotting an uprising.[51]
The town of Atherton, California was formally incorporated after approval by the landowners of the unincorporated community of Fair Oaks, and was named for the late entrepreneur Faxon Atherton.[52]
The Dempsey vs. Firpo boxing match took place before a crowd of 80,000 people at the Polo Grounds in New York City, with world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey being challenged by Luis Ángel Firpo of Argentina. In the first three-minute round, Firpo knocked Dempsey to one knee; Dempsey knocked Firpo down seven times; and Firpo caused Dempsey to tumble backwards out of the ring. In the second round, Dempsey knocked Firpo out at the 57-second mark to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.[53]
Oklahoma Governor Jack C. Walton declared "absolute martial law" statewide in his fight against the Ku Klux Klan. The official proclamation said that anyone who aided or abetted the Klan would be "deemed to be enemies of the sovereign state of Oklahoma and shall be dealt with by the military forces of the state."[58] Governor Walton announced further that he was suspending the writ of habeas corpus in Tulsa County.
Twelve people were killed and many injured in food riots in the German Silesian town of Sorau.[59]
In Britain, French socialite Marguerite Alibert was acquitted in her murder trial. On July 10, she had shot and killed her husband, Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, at the Savoy Hotel in London.[60]
The costume adventure film Scaramouche premiered at the Shubert-Belasco Theater in Washington, D.C.[18]
The Amakasu Incident occurred in Japan when two anarchists, Sakae Ōsugi and Noe Itō, were beaten to death, along with Sakae's 6-year-old nephew Munekazu Tachibana, by a detachment of the Japanese military police, the Kenpeitai, under the command of Masahiko Amakasu. The bodies of the man, woman and boy were then[clarification needed] into a well.[61]
The popular Australian comic strip Fatty Finn, created by Syd Nicholls, made its first appearance, debuting in Sydney's Sunday News.[62]
Club Deportivo Luis Ángel Firpo, commonly called "L.A. Firpo" and winner of 10 championships in La Primera, El Salvador's top-level soccer league, was founded in the city of Usulután. Originally called Club Deportivo Tecún Umán, it was renamed four days later for Argentine boxer Luis Ángel Firpo, who had recently fought world champion Jack Dempsey.[66]
Died: William Henry Merrill, 54, American electrical engineer who founded (in 1894) Underwriters Laboratories to test, and certify as safe, industrial and consumer electrical appliances.
The first holotype specimen of the prehistoric bird Andrewsornis abottii was discovered. Paleontologist John Bernard Abbott of the U.S. found the fossilized remains (an incomplete skull, the lower jaws, part of the shoulder bone and parts of a toe) while on an expedition in Argentina's Chubut Province. The species had become extinct more than 21 million years earlier.[67]
The newspapers of New York City were paralyzed by a pressman's strike.[68]
Two Canadian mountaineers, Neal Carter and Charles T. Townsend, became the first persons to climb to the top of the 8,428 feet (2,569 m) high Diavolo Peak.[69]
Queen Anne of Romania, French-born wife of King Michael I, having married him after his abdication; as Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma in Paris (d. 2016)
The Ernst Toller play The German Hinkemann premiered in Leipzig, about the hardships of a soldier who returns from the war disabled. German nationalists disrupted the premiere of the play and the cast received death threats.[70][71]
Died: Kairakutei Black the First (Shodai Kairakutei Burakku, stage name for Henry James Black), 64, Australian-born actor and the first non-Japanese kabuki actor and rakugoka storyteller.
Stefan Bozhkov, Bulgarian footballer with 53 games for the national team, later the Bulgarian National Team coach from 1966 to 1970; in Sofia (d. 2014)
Jørgen Rydder, leader of the Danish resistance against the Nazis during World War II; in Aars (executed 1944)
Died: Young Sen-yat, 31, Hawaiian-born Chinese aviator and entrepreneur, first director of the Chinese Aviation Bureau, dubbed by President Sun Yat-sen as "The Father of Chinese Aviation", was killed in a torpedo explosion.
Died: Dr. Fidel Pagés, 37, Spanish military surgeon who developed the technique of epidural anesthesia, was killed in a traffic accident in the town of Quintanapalla while returning to Madrid after a vacation with his family in Cestona.
September 22, 1923 (Saturday)
Police cells in Chicago were filled to capacity after 600 arrests were made in a citywide raid on speakeasies.[75]
Died: Hermann Kiese, 58, German rose cultivator known for creating multiple hybrids, including the Veilchenbdlau blue violet rose
September 23, 1923 (Sunday)
Lightning strikes killed five competitors in the annual Gordon Bennett Cup balloon race, and injured six others. The dead were U.S. Army lieutenants John W. Choptaw and Robert S. Olmsted, whose S-6 balloon crashed in the Netherlands near Loosbroek; two people on the Swiss balloon Génève which burned after being hit by lightning; and a person on the Spanish balloon Polar.[citation needed]
Governor Walton of Oklahoma directed all citizen soldiers of the state to be prepared "with such arms as they possess or can obtain to come to the assistance of the sovereign state of Oklahoma when ordered to do so by the governor."[77]
Murray State University began classes in the U.S. state of Kentucky as Murray State Normal School, with 202 students in at a former high school building until its permanent campus could be opened.[78] Nearly 100 years later, it would have an enrollment of more than 9,000 students.
The German government, led by Friedrich Ebert, officially ended its campaign of passive resistance against occupying forces.[80] In response, extremist groups, upset over Germany "losing another war", met to discuss overthrow of the government.[81]Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler met in Munich with the top right-wing leaders who would form the Kampfbund and persuaded them to entrust him as their leader. Ernst Röhm would write later that Hermann Kriebel, Hitler, Hermann Göring of the Sturmabteilung, Adolf Heiss and Joseph Seydel of the Bund Reichskriegsflagge, and Friedrich Weber of the Bund Oberland, conferred on the situation and that "In a magnificent speech lasting two hours and a half, Hitler unraveled a gripping picture of the political situation, and at its conclusion requested us to entrust the full political leadership to him. Tears in his eyes... Heiss extended him his hand and acceded to his request, and Weber followed his example. I was also highly emotional, for I was seeing the concept take shape for which I had yearned for so long. Now I believed that the hour of our liberation was nearer..."[82]
The first scheduled passenger airline service by flying boat commenced as British Marine Air Navigation Company began flights with three Supermarine Super Eagle aircraft on flights between Southampton in Britain, and Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.[83]
German intelligence agent Lothar Witzke, who had been arrested in 1918 in the United States, was pardoned of his espionage conviction by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, and deported to Berlin.[citation needed]
Died: Aubrey Herbert, 43, British diplomat and champion of Albanian independence, died of blood poisoning from a dental extraction[92] On two occasions, Herbert had been offered the throne of Albania during a search for a neutral monarch.[93]
The first round of voting in Egypt's first parliamentary elections took place as voters selected an electoral college of about 38,000 delegates. The delegates then cast the votes for the 215 seats in the Chamber of Deputies on January 12.[96]
German Army Major Bruno Buchrucker sent out an order directing 4,500 men of the paramilitary group Black Reichswehr to assemble on September 30 to carry out a coup against the German government.[97]
The Oklahoma Supreme Court allowed a referendum to go ahead on October 2 in which voters would decide if the state legislature could convene without being called by the governor. If voters approved the measure then impeachment proceedings were sure to go ahead against Governor Jack C. Walton, who was therefore fighting to block the referendum.[98]
The Soviet Union deported anarchists Senya Fleshin and Molly Steimer, placing both of them on a ship bound for Germany after they had gone on a hunger strike while in a Soviet prison. Molly Steimer had been deported from the United States on November 24, 1921, after having served prison sentences in the U.S. for anarchist activities.[99]
Roedad Khan, long-serving Pakistani government minister for six different prime ministers between from 1958 and 1993; including as Pakistan's Interior Secretary (1978 to 1988); in Mardan, North-West Frontier Province, British India (d. 2024)
Tuli Kupferberg, American singer, poet, and writer (d. 2010)
Italy's Prime Minister Benito Mussolini ordered the return of 10 million of the 50 million lire that Greece had paid over the Corfu incident and directed it to be spent on needy Greek and Armenian refugees.[105]
Bavarian State Commissioner Gustav von Kahr defied the federal government and refused to obey an order directing the suppression of publications by Adolf Hitler.[106]
A riot broke out in Düsseldorf in Germany after a mob rushed a crowd gathered outdoors to hear a speech by separatist leader Josef Friedrich Matthes. 16 were killed in the fighting.[109]
The French airship Dixmude completed a record nonstop flight of 118 hours and 41 minutes from Cuers across the Mediterranean into the Sahara and back towards Paris and then back to Cuers again.[110]
The fifth and final film of stage magician Harry Houdini, Haldane of the Secret Service, was released by his own Houdini Picture Corporation. The 84-minute silent adventure film, starring Houdini as "Heath Haldane", was produced by the Houdini Picture Corporation and marked his last venture as a director and an actor.[111]
^"ALL TOKIO IN FLAMES; DEATH TOLL STAGGERING— Yokohama in Ruins as Temblor Rocks East Coast of Nation", Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1923, p. 1
^"DEATH TOLL EXCEEDS 100,000 IN JAPAN'S HOLOCAUST", Los Angeles Times, September 3, 1923, p. 1
^ abJoshua Hammer, Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II (Simon & Schuster, 2006) pp. 113–114
^ abHolston, Kim R. (2013). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 33. ISBN978-0-7864-6062-5.
^Robert A. Rosenstone, "Manchester Boddy and the L.A. Daily News", The California Historical Society Quarterly (December 1970) pp. 291–307
^"Miss Columbus Again Captures Beauty Title". The Norwalk Hour. September 7, 1923. p. 16.
^"J. V. Ganly Dies After Car Crash". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. September 8, 1923. p. 20.
^"RADIO CONFUSION PUTS SEVEN DESTROYERS ON ROCKS— Twenty-two Dead, Three Missing, Many Injured— Air Clogged With Messages, Vessels Crash Off La Honda", Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1923, p. 1
^"Navy Suffers Heavy Loss— Wrecked Destroyers Were Among Best Equipped in World; Total Value About $10,500,000", Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1923, p. 2
^Barella, Gulio (September 9, 1923). "Greece Bows; Italy Wins". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^"Driver Sivocci Is Killed in Accident", Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1923, p. 9
^"Greece Accepts Demands— Foreign Minister Sees Diplomatic Victory for Athens in League of Nations Verdict", by Larry Rue, Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1923, p. 2
^ abcMercer, Derrik (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 309. ISBN978-0-582-03919-3.
^"Clouds prevent Study of Solar Eclipse Here— Scientists Disappointed; Look to Aerial Photographers for Record of Phenomenon", Los Angeles Times, September 11, 1923, p.1
^"A new phororhacoid bird from the Deseado formation of Patagonia", by Bryan Patterson, in Geological Series of Field Museum of Natural History (October 31, 1941) p.49-51
^"N.Y. Newspapers Unite to Issue One Publication". Chicago Daily Tribune. September 19, 1923. p. 3.
^Jackisch, Barry A. (2012). The Pan-German League and Radical Nationalist Politics in Interwar Germany, 1918–39. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-1-4094-6142-5.
^"Bulgars Storm Two Towns Held by 5,000 Rebels". Chicago Daily Tribune. September 26, 1923. p. 3.
^Wales, Henry (September 27, 1923). "Allies Force Greece to Pay Italy Millions". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 3.
^Ewing, Garen (2005). "A Woman of Paris". GarenEwing.co.uk. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
^Bejtullah Destani and Jason Tomes, Albania's Greatest Friend: Aubrey Herbert and the Making of Modern Albania: Diaries and Papers 1904–1923 (I.B. Tauris, 2011)
^Stephen Dorril, MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service (Simon & Schuster, 2002) p. 405
